Centre to link mobile SIM with Aadhaar: Official

The central government is working hard to link mobile SIM with the Unique Identification (UID) number or Aadhaar, a senior official said here Monday.

“The prime minister (Narendra Modi) has directed us to link the SIM of the mobiles with the Unique Id. We are working on that issue and I am sure we will be able to resolve issues,” said R.S. Sharma, secretary of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

“The idea is the mobile should become a very very strong factor in authentication and also a factor for getting information and transaction. If that happens, then it will an enable and empowering tool for the people of India,” he said.

Sharma was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event oragnised by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Communications and Information Technology Ministry.

He said the secretary of the department of telecom is having deliberations with various departments to facilitate the work of linking mobile SIM with Aadhaar cards. This project is a part of the Digital India programme.

“The programme that has been envisaged by Digital India will boost more ecommerce in India. We are standing in the cusp of digital revolution,” Sharma said.

Speaking about his recent visit to South Korea, Sharma said: “We went to South Korea to promote domestic manufacturing of electronics in the country.”

“As you know, the government has come up with a policy that gives a lot of financial incentives – both in terms of taxes and also in terms of investment incentives to establish industry – both for individuals as also for clusters.”

“So, we had gone to South Korea to meet with the industry leaders there,” Sharma said.

“Specifically, we met LG and Samsung and number of other industrial leaders and we emphasised to them that it will make sense to produce in India not only for domestic market, which is so huge, but also to export from India to other neighbouring countries,” he said.

Sharma added that the companies have all formulated groups “which will come here and they will interact with us”.